Hidden
by gottalovett
Summary: An alternative ending to s9 AU fic. Idea sparked by someone on the Spooks forum mentioning that the traitor storyline might have worked better with a different character. Ruth gets kidnapped by someone in MI5 from her house. But why?


_It's been awhile but this alternative ending s9 fic has been in my head since forever and it had to be written. I apologise in advance to zulu_ottawa if he/she ever reads this, for ruining Dimitri's "levity." Also, I said I would write Lucas/Ruth/Tom fic. I totally will. But this had to come first because its been bouncing around in my head like a ping pong ball. The ending would be the cliff hanger leading in from s9 into s10. _

1.

Ruth was unlocking the door to her house. It was taking longer than usual. It was icy outside and her hands had come over clumsy. Or at least she'd blame it on that. It was the letter from Nico really that had gotten her this edgy and upset. She loved him like her own son and yet she was too much of a coward to ring him and talk to him. No matter what she told herself, or told Harry, she was still so guilty inside.

The keys slipped out of her hand, past her finger tips and fell to the steps. The thud broke the silence of the cold and the dark outside. She bent to pick the keys up. There was a soft crunching sound behind her; the soft thud of sneakers on the pavement, the quiet breathing, in and out. _How had anyone gotten this close? She was one of the best, that's what Harry had said... wasn't she? And more importantly who were they, what did they want?_

The house keys were between two knuckles before she even noticed she'd done it but as she whirled around to try and catch the intruder off guard the mystery person laughed. Ruth let her hand and shoulders relax. It was just Dmitri standing in front of her door step, in the snow.

"Dimitri. You gave me a fright. I thought you were... well never mind. It's late! Why are you even here?"

Dimitri smiled. "This is rather embarrassing for me to admit to, Evershed, but I er... rather wanted to ask you something."

She was staring at him like he was crazy.

"Μπορεί να έρχομαι στο." _Can I come in? _

There was something desperate written in the contours of his tanned face; something that was coming down like a shade over the usual cheeky smile, easy flirting way. He had been in the military. Ruth knew that. It must have been a hard life.

There was a sense of almost panic in his blue eyes, it was a plea. "Please."

2.

"We have more in common than either of us have ever really acknowledged," Dimitri was saying slowly, as though he was carefully weighing up his words. "We've both been in positions where we have to make difficult decisions every day that we come into work."

"All of us do Dimitri. Every single one of us in Section D."

"No Ruth, you're wrong." The cheeky grin was back but in the shadows created by scarce moonlight there was something grotesque about his face. The usual humour didn't reach his eyes. They were gloating, sensing some kind of victory. She shifted away from him, suddenly frightened.

"We both understand Greece, Ruth. Its people, its culture, its language." His voice dropped so that she had to lean in closer to hear him. "Both of us have had a past in Greece. I know all about yours." His gaze was triumphant. "And yet my dear Ms Evershed, you know _nothing_ about mine."

Ruth was paralysed for a second. She could see George before her, cut to Harry telling Mani that he wouldn't tell him the location of the uranium, cut to George shot dead on the tv in front of her. Saw Dmitri, cut to his first day on the grid' light hearted and friendly and competent and harmless, cut to Lucas pinning a number into an off limits computer, saw...

But Dimitri had not finished yet. "You see Evershed, I have a past. Just not the one MI5 thinks I have."

Her hands were curled up into fists as she tried to laugh the fear away. "What are you talking about Dimitri? You're scaring me."

The reply was brief. "How are George and Nico these days?"

3.

The men had been quiet. Ruth had been concentrating so hard on what Dimitri was saying she hadn't heard the extra footsteps, the sound of the window lifting. They didn't have guns, but then, they didn't need them.

"I'm sorry Ruth," Dimitri said, his men drawing in closer.

She picked up a paperweight from the coffee table and flung it in his face, pushing past one shorter man and running, leaping over a foot stool, knocking a lampshade over, kicking objects out of the way but it was no use. A hand stretched out from the front door, pulled her up by the hair, probably pulled out some of it by the roots as she screamed and screamed and screamed and they tied her up.

Dimitri was shaking his head sorrowfully. "You should be more careful of who you trust Ruth. Sarkissian might have sold Harry to that bastard Mani, but that doesn't mean he didn't make other promises first."

4.

They were in an abandoned warehouse, God only knew where. It was suffocating, hard to speak; the memories flooded back, choked her, crowded out everything else, took her back to that one awful set of minutes when she was rendered utterly powerless, couldn't do anything at all as the gun took aim, fired a bullet and killed _him_. Took her back to that time where there was no rational thought and she was stripped bare to the soul, riding on the edge of hysteria _and she couldn't get out of her own head_.

"You never talked about your Greek life to me Evershed and so I never asked. I would have done you know. If you would have asked me."

"Why Dimitri?" she whispered. "What is this all for?"

"I had a boyfriend once and we were in love and we were happy. MI5 recruited him to infiltrate a Greek terrorist group operating just outside London. He was found out and tortured to death. MI5 never rescued him. They just... let him die."

She tried to sound calm, reasonable. "Maybe they didn't know how to get him out, maybe it was too dangerous..."

"Oh don't give me that crap Ruth. You know as well as I do how MI5 works. The security of the nation comes before individual lives. Isn't that how the great Harry Pearce himself rolls?"

The hot tears were prickling as George crumpled to his knees on the tv, head hitting the ground, dead.

"Oh yes Ruth Evershed. You know only too well about the ruthlessness of MI5 don't you?"

"What do you want?"

Before he said anything she already knew what the answer would be. "I want Harry Pearce. The man who signed my Sergio's death warrent."

"But Lucas?" It was a pathetic attempt to buy time.

"Lucas North? Yes. Another case of Harry Pearce displaying poor judgement. Lucas was unstable Ruth. He spent eight years in a Russian prison. It wasn't hard to tip him over the edge; his former Russian wife Elizabeta and an unpleasant man from his past was all that was needed. We all have hidden pasts Ruth. You just have to know where to look for them."

"Has he done something then? Who is Lucas North? Is he working for you?" The questions spilled out.

Dimitri actually laughed. "Lucas is a weak fool who allows his need for love get in the way of his job. Lucas is a man who never recovered from what the young boy did."

"What did he do?"

"Vaughn manipulated him into doing it of course but no one was ever caught. I imagine he made such a good officer- and yes Ruth I can admit to him being that- because he was trying to make amends for the murders in his past."

Ruth looked at him in confused horror.

" Yes Evershed. Lucas North once was an informant for the Russians. Just imagine how many British men and women and children that man sold out to the other side. And then he did the same again to the Russians years later. No wonder he had such a hard time when the Russians finally caught up with him. No doubt they were angry that he'd had such a big change of heart and had sold what he knew to his section head in Britain." He suddenly stared at her. "But enough of Lucas. I want something, someone Ruth. I want someone very much and you're going to give him to me."

She flinched. "I'll never sell out Harry."

"You don't have to. We learnt from Mani. He'll come after you."

5.

"These men," Ruth said indicating with a wave of her hand the men with guns at the door, "where did you pick them up from?"

"Some are Sergio's friends from the military. Some are men I handpicked from about the place myself."

They sat in silence for awhile.

Dimitri broke it first. "I'm surprised you haven't asked about Nico?"

Her voice was flat, dead. "Is there any point?"

"We were watching you in Greece you know. That bastard Sarkissian sold us out. Mani got to you first."

Suddenly it all came together. "Sarkissian. That's how you knew about Lucas."

He didn't answer but she knew it had to be the truth.

"You looked very happy in Cyprus. Were you?" he asked suddenly. For the first time he felt human again, looked vulnerable.

"I suppose I was. Things were simple, things were uncomplicated. It wasn't so claustrophobic. I was content. I suppose."

"And yet you'll always love Harry Pearce." He truly looked sad. "I am sorry you had to get involved in this Ruth. I'm sorry you've ended up the chess piece like Sergio did. I'm sorry Mani killed George."

Funnily enough she believed him but that didn't give him the right to say George's name. "It's not too late Dimitri. You can let me go, you can disappear, and you can live a normal life again."

He shook his head. "That kind of life has been denied to all of us Ruth. Don't mock me with its promise."

She shook her head helplessly. There was nothing else she could say.

6.

"What will you do if Harry doesn't come, doesn't meet your demands?"

He looked at her for a long time, there was pity there. "I'll be forced to kill you."

"Just to punish Harry you'd do that?"

"If I was left with no other choice, I would pull that trigger Ruth. I'd make sure he was watching."

She tried to swallow, tried to breathe properly. "How Dmitri? How would you do it?"

He got up, disconcertingly put an arm around her. "I'd take the gun from my pal Antonio outside. I'd put it against your head and I'd cover up your eyes with a cloth and I'd pull that trigger. I'd put the tape on the internet. I'd do what I felt I had to do."

She began to cry then.

He shook his head. "Harry will come. For your sake he must."

She glared at him, fierce. "Would he? Would he really? I'd say that was too high a price to pay."

"For your sake Ruth," was all Dimitri said as he left the room, locking her in for the night.

7.

The darkness swallowed her up as she felt the tears bubble over, spill down her cheeks. She saw George dead, saw Harry dead when he inevitably came as he surely was right now. The dark wrapped around her, added to her panic. She had to find a way to protect Harry from himself. Adam had been there for Jo in her time of failure. He had been there to snap her neck to stop her from talking. Jo had told Ruth that on the steps of St Pauls. MI5 had been too quick. They had gotten to Adam and Jo before Adam had had to make the decision. Harry had gotten them out.

There was no Adam here to save her and Lucas was on the rocks. Ros was dead. Beth and Tariq would trust the misinformation Dimitri had fed them. It was Harry who would come, Harry who would pay the price and sell out a nation.

The tears fell around her and kept coming in a steady flow. She couldn't snap her own neck, couldn't opt out like Jo had done because Dimitri would win. She couldn't stay alive either, because Harry would try and rescue her and he would fail because he wouldn't want to see her hurt. There was no state secret at stake but just a man's life.

The powerlessness of George's death, the powerlessness now, they were both the same.

She dug her nails into the palms of her hands till they were bleeding. She had to stop herself from raking her cheeks till they bled in her panic. She was reduced once more to the trapped animal and she could see no way out...


End file.
